Nhu, born in1978, was convicted of “swindling to appropriate assets” and“counterfeiting seals and materials of agencies and organisations” atthe first instance trial in January last year.
Theappeal court also kept the order for Nhu to pay compensation to victims,including 45.4 billion VND (2.1 million USD) to Zen Plaza company, 200billion VND to the Nam Viet Bank (Navibank), 135 billion VND to theVietnam International Bank (VIB), over 668 billion VND to the AsiaCommercial Bank (ACB), among others.
However, the courtannulled part of the original sentence regarding the defendant’sswindling to appropriate assets to five companies, including the PhuongDong and Saigon Bank Berjara Securities Joint Stock Companies, Hung YenInvestment JSC, Toan Cau Insurance Company and An Loc Company forre-investigation and re-trial.
The court said as Nhu wasappointed head of the transaction department of a Vietinbank branch,there were signs that she had abused the power of her position toviolate the law, hence the re-investigation. The court also requestedconsidering the responsibility of Vietinbank in the case.
According to the indictment at the first instance trial, in 2007, Nhutook advantage of her professional position to mobilise over 200 billionVND (9.43 million USD) from many banks, organisations and individualsat high interest rates to invest in the local property market.
In 2010, when the market stagnated, Nhu suffered huge losses and fell into insolvency.
From March 2010 until September 2011, under the pretext of mobilisingcapital for two Vietinbank branches, Nhu allegedly obtained loanstotalling 3.9 trillion VND (185 million USD) from three individuals,nine companies and three banks.
She also forged theseals of Vietinbank and companies such as Phuc Vinh, Thinh Phat, HungYen, An Loc, Duc Minh Quang and Saigonbank Berjaya, as well as nearly200 documents, including 110 false contracts between Vietinbank's Nha Bebranch and individuals and agencies.-VNA